Before I could respond, my secretary, Mara, stepped lightly into the office. “Callum, I’m sorry to interrupt, but there’s a Maisie Morgan on line one. She says it’s urgent.”
My head snapped toward her. “Put her through.”
Jameson’s smirk widened. “Is that my new sister?”
I ignored him, picking up the receiver as soon as my landline started ringing. “Hey, Maisie. I won’t lie, this is a pretty big surprise. I didn’t think I’d hear from you.”
“Yeah, I, uh,” she hesitated, her voice clipped and careful, but there was an edge to it. “Can you come meet me tonight during Brody’s hockey practice?”
My pulse hit the ceiling. “Of course, I’ll be there. Is everything okay?”
She hesitated on the other end for a second. “Sure, yeah. Everything is fine. I’ll just, uh, I guess I’ll see you at the rink at six, then.”
She hung up and I frowned, slowly lowering the receiver. Disbelief and a strange, unfamiliar sense of urgency rushed through me. Jameson didn’t miss a beat. Mischief danced in his eyes, and he was clearly entertained by the way I was practically vibrating after that call.
“Wow,” he drawled. “You really like this one, huh? Was everything okay, or does she and the little one already need Daddy’s help?”
I scowled at him. “Shut up. You’re being an asshole.”
He chuckled, leaning back like he was about to watch a firework go off. “Call me when you’re done with yourmeeting. I’m willing to make a wager that it’s going to take less than ten minutes before you completely lose your composure. You’ll have to let me know after if I have to pay up. How’s fifty sound?”
I knew he meant fifty grand and not fifty dollars, but I ignored him anyway, my thoughts already drifting to what might happen tonight. Brody would be on the ice. Maisie would be waiting in the stands and I would have to try not to act like a damn fool while simultaneously figuring out why she’d come back to me after all these years.
Because somehow, she had, and there was no way I was taking Jameson’s bet. If she told me within those first ten minutes that her answer was yes, he was right. I would completely lose my composure.
CHAPTER 10
MAISIE
The water had always been my anchor. The faint echo of those splashes when a diver broke the surface, the sharp scent of chlorine that hung in the air, and that rhythmic hush of ripples hitting tile. All of it was comforting.
No matter how much time had passed, the pool still felt like home. Just because I didn’t compete anymore didn’t mean I didn’t still love it.
I launched myself off the springboard, my body cutting clean through the water, and when I surfaced, I was grinning from ear to ear. I also heard Georgia’s laughter though, which made me wipe the water from my eyes before I searched for her.
The only friend from college I’d kept in touch with, she’d been on the swim team at Cal Poly and she’d stayed in California, moving to San Francisco after graduation to become an attorney. She stood at the edge of the lane, her goggles perched on her blonde head and her arms crossed like she’d been waiting to catch me in the act.
“You’ve still got it, girl,” she said, shaking her head with a huge smile on her face. “You realize that, right? You could walk into a competition tomorrow and clean house.”
I pulled myself out of the pool and chuckled as I tugged at my cap. “The only thing I compete in these days is grading algebra tests before bedtime like it’s an Olympic sport. I’m okay with it, though. How are you?”
She laughed and accepted my hug even though I was dripping wet, even hanging onto me tightly. “I’m good, but I know you didn’t drag me out here for nostalgia’s sake. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll take any excuse for a swim, but you sounded so stressed on the phone. What’s going on?”
Releasing me as she spoke, she looked me up and down once we’d separated, then waved me toward a bench that overlooked the glass partition between the pool and the kids’ recreation center at the gym.
My membership to this place was one of my biggest monthly expenses, but I refused to give it up. This particular gym was fancy and exclusive, which I didn’t really care about, but they had an Olympic-sized pool, fabulous diving boards, and loads of activities and classes for kids. That was why I’d chosen it. I could use Brody’s playtime to do my own thing, diving.
It was the only indulgence I allowed myself, but Brody loved it here too. For a long moment, Georgia and I just watched him together through the glass. He was with a cluster of boys, climbing and tumbling across the padded mats like they had springs built into their shoes.
As I watched him, the knot pulsated in my chest. It was an ache I hadn’t been able to ease. That boy of mine deserved the world. He deserved so, so much more than me, which was why I’d called Georgia.
“I saw him,” I admitted as I finally wrapped a towel around myself and sat down beside her. “Brody’s father.”
Georgia froze, her eyes widening so much it looked painful. She was the only person in California who knew who he was, andeven though she hadn’t really known him back at college, she knew his name. The weight it carried.
“Callum Westwood,” she said slowly, quietly, testing the syllables like they might shatter even as she looked around like a spy in an action movie, trying to make sure no one around would overhear us. Even though we were mostly alone, she lowered her voice to a whisper anyway. “How the hell did that happen? Where did you see him? Did you speak to him?”
I nodded, clutching the towel tighter around me. My heart was pounding. “I didn’t know it was him. He put out this ridiculous ad that just said he was a businessman looking for a wife. I answered it, but I swear I didn’t know it was him until I got there.”
